You can now build a sleek, professional website with just a few clicks. AI tools like Wix ADI, Bookmark, and Hostinger Website Builder can help small business owners go from zero to online presence in an afternoon.

But after your site is built and the “wow” factor wears off, what do you do? How do you maintain this site while running your business? What happens if a customer reports an issue with the website?

This article will unpack the AI website-building landscape, the challenges you may run into post-launch, and how to handle any issues that come up so that your website, and your business, continue to run smoothly.

AI Tools Powering Modern Websites

AI website builders promise speed, ease, and cost-effectiveness — a compelling combo for any small business owner. Let's take a closer look at some of the more popular platforms:

• Wix ADI (Artificial Design Intelligence): Builds a customized website by asking you a few questions about your business and preferences. The result is a pre-designed site with content and layout tailored to your industry.

• Bookmark’s AIDA: Short for Artificial Intelligence Design Assistant, AIDA claims it can build a personalized website in under two minutes, handling layout, text, and even stock imagery.

• Hostinger Website Builder (formerly Zyro): Uses AI not just to build your website, but also to help with content generation, SEO, and design elements.

• Durable: Focused on entrepreneurs and freelancers, Durable offers a one-click website builder with AI copy, CRM, invoicing, and more.

These tools are part of a broader trend: AI is no longer just helping developers write code — it's helping non-developers create entire digital experiences. But the creation is just the beginning. What happens after your site is built?

Challenges of AI Website builders

Standing up a website in a few minutes is great. Small business owners can appreciate the time savings, especially. But it's not always smooth sailing. Here are a few hurdles you could run into with a business website built with AI:

1. Generic Content and Design

AI-generated content tends to be broad, repetitive, or, worse, off-brand. It may get your site up quickly, but it likely won’t speak directly to your audience the way you would. And in a world where it's already hard to rise above the noise, the last thing your small business needs is a site that doesn't stand out or attract your target market.

2. Hidden Technical Debt

AI builders generate code behind the scenes — code that may not be optimized for performance, accessibility, or future updates. It might "work" today, but without human oversight, that code can become tangled and inefficient over time. So what happens when you're ready to make an upgrade to your site? Is the AI-generated code built to be extensible in the way you need it to be?

3. Limited Flexibility

Out-of-the-box AI tools work well within their templates, but customization can be a challenge. If you want to integrate with third-party apps, add custom logic, or do anything outside the box — you'll hit a wall. So, let's say you want to integrate your site with your CRM tool. It's possible that your AI-generated site might not work with your preferred system.

4. SEO and Performance Limitations

Many AI site builders claim to be SEO-friendly, but true search optimization requires more than just inserting keywords. Structured data, technical SEO, load speeds — these areas often need expert intervention.

5. Security and Maintenance Concerns

AI builders don't always prioritize security patches, CMS updates, or backup protocols. Without a development team keeping an eye on these things, your website could be vulnerable. And if your small business handles sensitive personal or payment information, security risks like this could pose a significant problem.

How Human Developers Can help

AI is great at making things faster — but it’s not great at knowing why things should be built a certain way, or when to deviate from the norm. That’s where real developers come in. Or, in today's world, it's more likely where a blend of human developers and AI come in.

Strategy

A skilled development team can collaborate with AI tools to write code more efficiently without sacrificing quality. AI can handle boilerplate code or generate quick prototypes, while developers focus on:

• Reviewing and refactoring AI-generated code

• Implementing advanced functionality

• Ensuring accessibility and performance standards

• Creating custom, scalable solutions beyond templates

Essentially, AI is for speed while human developers are for strategy. While AI manages repetitive tasks, a development team can focus on optimization, modular architecture, advanced functionality, and UX.

Technical Debt

Human developers can also help address some of the challenges mentioned earlier, like hidden technical debt. AI-generated code may work in the short term, but it’s often bloated, repetitive, or lacks clear structure. Over time, this can make your website harder to update, more expensive to scale, and prone to bugs that are difficult to track down.

Without a clear codebase strategy or proper documentation, technical debt quietly builds up until even simple changes require major overhauls.

Human developers are essential in cleaning up that mess. They can audit the AI-generated code, refactor it for performance and clarity, and implement scalable patterns that make your website easier to maintain. This kind of proactive maintenance isn’t just about making your site faster—it’s about futureproofing your digital presence.

Security

And then there’s the security side of things. AI-generated sites may not follow best practices for input validation, user data storage, or third-party integrations—especially when using plug-and-play tools. These shortcuts can leave vulnerabilities that hackers can exploit. A human team can ensure your website is updated regularly with patches, uses secure coding practices, and follows compliance standards for your industry.

Conclusion

AI website builders have lowered the barrier to entry for small businesses — and that’s a great thing. But building a site is just the first step. Maintaining it, improving it, and making sure it grows with your business requires something AI doesn’t yet offer: judgment, creativity, and strategy.

A real development team can work with AI tools, not against them, to build a better, more resilient website — one that doesn’t just look good today but continues to serve your business tomorrow.

So you've built your website with AI. Now what? Time to level up with a human development team.